Pittsburgh is definitely a beer town. I observe this every Monday morning as I sit on Carson Street with my morning coffee watching the parade of beer trucks off to replenish the supplies. They are coming from the 20th largest beer wholesaler in the United States, The Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale Company, located here on the South Side.

Now that I think of it, every Monday morning, I also walk past Pennsylvania's first authentic Hofbräuhaus - modeled after the legendary 400 year-old Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany, where all of the beer is brewed on-site.

The South Side might actually have the area's largest number of bars per capita. The BarSmart website lists three SouthSide bars in its top ten list of best beer bars in Pittsburgh and I know people come from all over to check out Fat Heads and the venerable Jack's Bar.

This month a new kind of beer distributor opened in the former T&T Hardware store called Buddy's Brews on Carson showcasing an innovative selection of craft and import beers.